China Says Construction on South China Sea Islands and Reefs not for Militarizing, Only for Protection of Distant Areas

Published By : 23 Nov 2015 |Published By : QYRESEARCH

China has disproved the claims that it is militarizing the disputed islands on South China Sea, and has said that the country needs to build facilities on the island just so that the far-away artificial island and reefs can be protected.

Liu Zhenmin, China’s Vice Foreign Minister, said at a brief speech in Kuala Lumpur after the ASEAN summit that owing to the geographic location of the islands and reefs and their faraway positioning from mainland China, it is necessary they be furnished with necessary military facilities. He said that such facilities were necessitated by the country’s national defense purposes.

He said that these activities should not be linked with an effort to militarize the South China Sea and militarize the islands and the reefs.

China has started a reclamation program in which millions of tons of corals and sand has been dumped onto the islands and reefs that lie in the South China Sea, where the country claims its sovereignty. The actions are specifically centered on the Spratly islands in the region that carry out nearly 30% per cent of global water trade. It is being said that the country is building as many as three airstrips on the island, sparking concern among nearly countries that the actions will allow the country with an expanded set of military bases and will risk the obstruction of free shipping movements in the area.

Chinese officials have also said, in an effort to put the activities in the South Sea area in a non-confrontational zone, that the facilities on the island such as lighthouses are intended to help ships from other countries in navigating the area in a better way and to also aid rescue and search operations.